Justice and Nonverbal Communication in a Post-pandemic World: An Evidence-Based Commentary and Cautionary Statement for Lawyers and Judges

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Abstract

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The new physical distancing rules have had many consequences, some of which are felt throughout the justice system. Courts across the world limited their operations. Nonetheless, given that justice delayed is justice denied, many jurisdictions have turned to technologies for urgent matters. This paper offers an evidence-based comment and caution for lawyers and judges who could be inclined, for concerns such as cost and time saving, to permanently step aside from in-person trials. Using nonverbal communication research, in conjunction with American and Canadian legal principles, we argue that such a decision could harm the integrity of the justice system.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Vincent Denault:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7602-594X

vincent.denault@umontreal.ca

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Nonverbal Behav

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Nonverbal Behav

Title: Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Print): 0191-5886

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-3653

Publication date (Electronic): 9 August 2020

Pages: 1-10

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.14848.31, ISNI 0000 0001 2292 3357, Department of Communication, , Université de Montréal, ; 90 Avenue Vincent-d’Indy, Outremont, QC H2V 2S9 Canada

[2 ]Centre for Studies in Nonverbal Communication Sciences, Montreal, Canada

[3 ]GRID grid.266757.7, ISNI 0000000114809378, Department of Psychological Sciences, , University of Missouri-St. Louis, ; St. Louis, USA

Author information

Vincent Denault http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7602-594X

Article

Publisher ID: 339

DOI: 10.1007/s10919-020-00339-x

PMC ID: 7415193

PubMed ID: 32836607

SO-VID: e066878e-5979-4b2e-9d9a-19118da7992b

License:

This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.